Writing Prompts

[Werra]

He better not! Unless we get sketches from him.

[novius]

He better not! Unless we get sketches from him.

Well, I've seen that one, and I seriously expected a sketch of Tempo in a dominatrix getup....

[Krulle]

Heck, yeah. I'm not the only one having thought of that....

Phew...

*waves at Arioch*

[dragoongfa]

Done, let's see how you guys take these revelations

[orion1836]

How I imagine Beryl if she were to ever frolic unrestricted through Alex's head.

EDIT:

Also, lol:

More and more his life felt like poorly written fiction.

[novius]

A cabal of Mizol thinking they "know what's best" for the Union at a whole and withholding crucial information just like out of a conspiracy theory?

I definitely need to check my Lotai - again! - because you had picked the thoughts right out of my head

SpoilerShow

In addition, I saw another plot hook opening: Since Beryl has many, if not all, of Alex's memories and knowledge, she may 'instinctually' know how to operate still-functional devices they salvaged from the Bellarmine. Curious as she is she may start sifting through the loot, once she realizes that she could. And while the exact route to Earth may have become widely sought-after intel, often enough it is the small things making a difference.

Apart from the piece in the spoiler, I have something else in mind, too... there's still the matter of Duskcrown's impending arrival as well.

[novius]

Had to give 'New Frontiers' a little love, too. After all, I did say that the poor boy is in for some nasty shocks. But, there could be the light at the end of the tunnel that is not the headlamp of the oncoming train...

[dragoongfa]

Mizol Paranoia should be like that so it should be obvious that there is a conspiracy behind everything that has happened

Anyway here is what I have in mind about the ramifications of human telepathy in this story as I believe that we need to nail down some basic rules and background about it or risk going full retard/mary sue with it:

SpoilerShow

Human telepathy is largely passive/inert unless triggered by an active telepath. The Lotai isn't as much a defensive measure (although it did safeguard humanity) but rather an evolutionary remnant necessary to keep humanity 'sane' as it evolved sapience concurrently with telepathy. This remnant was largely 'deactivated' when humanity became fully sapient, turning those early humans into fully active telepaths in the span of a few generations. However those humans were then discovered by the Soians and were hunted down to near extinction during the experiments that resulted to the creation of the Loroi. The humans that survived were the ones who didn't deactivate the evolutionary trait of the Lotai and as such modern humanity evolved from the tiny numbers of humans that escaped the Soia.

Due to its subconcious nature human telepathy is unpredictable, tamperamental and relies heavily in sentiments in its function until the human is trained to use it conciously (after the Diral in new frontiers was discovered and extracted Nathan was trained and was part of several REDACTED covert operations).

An interesting aspect of the fully unlocked human telepathic potential is that it is noticeably stronger than anticipated. The creation and constant maintenance of the subconsious Lotai is 'very expensive' in terms of telepathic potential that it requires. Since it is an evolved form of telepathy it is also 'broader' and more 'robust' than the Loroi version which can best be described as an intentionally throttled version of telepathy.

Human telekinesis should also be possible but I think that it would require turning the otherwise passive version of human telepathy into the dangerous active one in order to manifest.

Effects of human telepathy to the Loroi: After prolongued interaction the bonded Loroi gets 'stronger' since the 'throttling mechanism' put in place by the Soians becomes damaged by the interactions.

Any other ideas?

[novius]

Mizol Paranoia should be like that so it should be obvious that there is a conspiracy behind everything that has happened

Anyway here is what I have in mind about the ramifications of human telepathy in this story as I believe that we need to nail down some basic rules and background about it or risk going full retard/mary sue with it:

SpoilerShow

Human telepathy is largely passive/inert unless triggered by an active telepath. The Lotai isn't as much a defensive measure (although it did safeguard humanity) but rather an evolutionary remnant necessary to keep humanity 'sane' as it evolved sapience concurrently with telepathy. This remnant was largely 'deactivated' when humanity became fully sapient, turning those early humans into fully active telepaths in the span of a few generations. However those humans were then discovered by the Soians and were hunted down to near extinction during the experiments that resulted to the creation of the Loroi. The humans that survived were the ones who didn't deactivate the evolutionary trait of the Lotai and as such modern humanity evolved from the tiny numbers of humans that escaped the Soia.

Due to its subconcious nature human telepathy is unpredictable, tamperamental and relies heavily in sentiments in its function until the human is trained to use it conciously (after the Diral in new frontiers was discovered and extracted Nathan was trained and was part of several REDACTED covert operations).

An interesting aspect of the fully unlocked human telepathic potential is that it is noticeably stronger than anticipated. The creation and constant maintenance of the subconsious Lotai is 'very expensive' in terms of telepathic potential that it requires. Since it is an evolved form of telepathy it is also 'broader' and more 'robust' than the Loroi version which can best be described as an intentionally throttled version of telepathy.

Human telekinesis should also be possible but I think that it would require turning the otherwise passive version of human telepathy into the dangerous active one in order to manifest.

Effects of human telepathy to the Loroi: After prolongued interaction the bonded Loroi gets 'stronger' since the 'throttling mechanism' put in place by the Soians becomes damaged by the interactions.

Any other ideas?

Nope, pretty much an extension on what I already had in mind.

SpoilerShow

Especially with the influence of the Soia on the prehistoric humans/prehominids. The Loroi might have to face the rather disheartening thought that humans may have stronger telepathic abilities per average, once they don't have to expend themselves on maintaining their Lotai. On the other hand, while the humans might be stronger as a whole, Loroi do have the awareness and the training. Power levels don't mean much if it comes to skills unique to humans and Loroi, respectively. And one specific skill exclusive to humans did show at the end of the last scene, something I intend to elaborate on.

.

[entity2636]

Like how the last couple of parts were written and where you are taking the story. About human telepathy I'd like to ask, please don't turn this into Humanity F*ck Yeah.

SpoilerShow

I think human telepathy should be limited to what you have already established - communicate only with those whom one subconsciously trusts and Lotai for everybody else and as a subconscious defensive mechanism that can protect oneself and the ones one can communicate with. Also humans should not have any telekinesis and no farseer abilities of their own. When coupled to a loroi, one could display amplified abilities of said coupled loroi but that's about it.

In outsiderverse the Teidars are already too OP making them almost Mary Sues and it gets kind of pointless to even try to oppose them. That's bad worldbuilding IMO.

By the way, during the confrontation with Tempo in the ready room I was half expecting her to snap and telekinetically attack Alex or Stillstorm in a desperate attempt to preserve the secret. Fireblade did demonstrate that telekinesis still worked.

[novius]

Like how the last couple of parts were written and where you are taking the story. About human telepathy I'd like to ask, please don't turn this into Humanity F*ck Yeah.

Think Rock, Paper, Scissors. Rock beats Scissors, but gets beaten by Paper, and so on. A Teidar with an amplifier could turn other Loroi's mind (and body) into a pretzel, but as seen in the character sheets, Fireblade's unamplified power is even below Tempo's.

And a Mizol has a lot of nasty tricks up her sleeve, as demonstrated, when she simply pinched someone's brain to put her asleep.

Same concept gets extended to Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock now.

[entity2636]

More like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

[dragoongfa]

@entity

The Teidar aren't too OP imho, their powers are very variable and they bleed and die like everyone else after all.

Also it's bad form for a Mizol to attack a superior officer while Tempo's telekinetic potential is laughable, able to move only minor objects and nothing much.

Also Humanity F*** Yeah has taken a very literal route in this fic already

SpoilerShow

My thinking is that Alex will 'help' the Loroi bonded with him to 'sense' the Umiak Lotai, not do something outrageous like him becoming a farseer or a godlike telekinetic.

Even if humans do have that potential it will probably require months if not years of training for them to be able to do that safely.

[Krulle]

Nice. So with Beryl he can sense wide distances too.

I was intending to have the bonding with Fireblade make his range very long.... (Tapping on her strength)

I have the feeling I should definitely get around to read "New frontiers" before I contribute again...... The story get more and more referred to....

[dragoongfa]

New frontiers hasn't gotten to the point that it hints to what Beacons says, it may never will and be left open ended.

SpoilerShow

My thinking is that his time with Fireblade not only bonded her more firmly with him but also 'flexed' the otherwise inert telepathic talent of Alex while the shock of lowering the enhanced Lotai allowed him and Beryl to see 'some things' out there

[Krulle]

Yeah, just got around to reading "New frontiers".
Very interesting, and also his Lotai went down much faster than in "Beacons". Maybe because of a long loneliness....

Yeah, I agree that "new frontiers" will likely never come to the point we're referencing it in "Beacons", since we'd first need to fill in the diral time.....

I wonder if the Soians left some genetic gimmick surprises behind, so that hybrids would be feasible (but possibly unfertile, or even unable to actually live on their own), to indicate that indeed this is the template species....
Anyway, for Beacons this elements has been touched already. (Although someone could just ignore that and rewrite it...)

[Zarya]

New frontiers hasn't gotten to the point that it hints to what Beacons says, it may never will and be left open ended.

I hoped it’d be possible to “explore” more efficient ways in New Frontier on how to establish sanzai links than bedroom scenes and consecutive sessions in Turkish baths. A knock on the head also works

Here Nathan has the chance to learn how to communicate with a group of 48. Perhaps the only drawback is that there is a just a single case of human contact. The “secret” of the Timo (ruin) Soia portal is another thing I’d expected the Mizol to keep under wraps. If there is a portal link with Earth, it could be used when in dire need (deus ex machina), but such a storyline should be built up with care.

EDIT: I’d like to add that it just seems more plausible for me that there’s only sanzai when there’s direct physical contact, and only “group calls” through that direct contact.

[Krulle]

The real issue I see with this portal thing is, that it would allow FTL from within the centre of a gravity well instead of using the slopes of a gravity well....
It does not seem to match outsider technology or physics, so far.
But then, the Soia were beyond that anyway.

And it makes a nice premise for the story / writing prompt.

But I fear this technology would be too far for a Human of the eighteenth century, expecially when 48 Loroi having grown up with Soian artifacts consider it beyond their understanding (but then the Caste system of the Loroi pushes this kind of thinking, thus limiting the individuals potential considerably).

[Zarya]

Either we have another FTl discussion - which I really liked BTW - or the portal only functions at light speed, which isn’t consistent with the Loroi Empire / Earth dates originally defined by Orion1836.

In the latter case we’re 250 or so lightyears later than the American Revolution, Nathan’s relatives on Earth were already deceased upon his arrival, and on Deinar the story timeline is *much* closer to that of the events in Beacons.

PS: a slow portal will be useless as a deus ex machina

[novius]

New installment of Beacons is up - hope this is a worthy continuation After all, there's a lot of fallout to deal with.